Thump!
by Panda-chan-plays-tennis
Summary: Penny is beating up on a punching bag instead of Sheldon when he won't tell her how he feels. Slight AU, established P/S, brief L/P.


*Disclaimer: I own nothing! I am so broke it isn't even funny.*

Thump!

Thump! Thump! Wham! Thump! Thump! Wham!

Penny continued on her pattern of two punches and a kick against the punching bag. Sweat dripped down her face but she didn't reach up to wipe it away. She had been at this punching bag for an hour and found a rhythm after 30 minutes of blindly swinging away. The men around her glanced warily in her direction. Normally they were blatantly hitting on her and showing off their prowess. Today, however, they didn't want to be that punching bag. That and she sounded like a crazy person mumbling to herself.

"Not" Thump! "That" Thump! "Hard!" Wham! All she had done was ask Sheldon how he felt about her. After two years of dating, he still skirted the issue. He told her that actions were more important than words. She had time and time again told him that she loved him. It was true. She was madly in love with her whackadoodle. After walking in on Leonard making out with Stephanie on the guys couch she knew that their relationship was over. Leonard had moved out, not being able to take the awkwardness of seeing Penny every day, but Sheldon refused. He didn't cheat on Penny and he refused to change his routine for Leonard being an "inappropriate acting human being".

With Leonard gone, Penny started to hang out more with Sheldon, Howard, and Raj. Howard, being entirely devoted to Bernadette, no longer hit on her quite as disgustingly. Raj was in therapy to figure out his woman problems and ended up in a relationship with a member of the group. A male member of the group. A shy young man named Mark of whom Raj was entirely smitten with. With Howard and Raj away with their respective relationships, Penny was left with Sheldon more and more. But she enjoyed being with just him more then when they were all together. He was still neurotic and talked about things that didn't interest Penny or went over her head. However, he was rather sweet and crazy thoughtful when he was one on one. He kept snacks she liked to eat in his pantry. He rented girly movies on interchanging weeks to watch on movie night. He went shopping with her and let her talk him into some normal looking pants(she couldn't even imagine changing his choice in shirts). He stayed up late with her when she broke up with Leonard.

It wasn't until a few months later did she realize that they were kind of dating. This epiphany came to her when she was leaning against Sheldon watching "Kate and Leopold." He'd been scoffing at the inaccuracies in the time period and in the method of time travel. She glanced up at him from her spot on his shoulder to see his relaxed face. She thought of how she never imagined being here. She was thanking God that months ago she had caught Leonard cheating on her. Sheldon smiled at something and she felt her heart beat a little faster. Flushing, she hid her face in his shoulder and smiled. The movie ended and she sat up. Turning to Sheldon, she tried to find the perfect words. "Are we dating?" fell out of her mouth. Not quite as poetic and perfect as she wanted. His eyebrow rose as he looked at her. "Penny, would you like to add a courtship paradigm to our relationship? I would not be averse to such an action. It would actually be most welcome. I coul…" Penny interrupted him by pressing her lips to his. The kiss wasn't perfect, very few first ones are, but it sent sparks through her that she had never felt before. Pulling away, Penny looked up at Sheldon's flushed face. "Penny. I believe we should add a courtship paradigm to our relationship." Smiling she mumbled "me too" before kissing him again.

That was two years ago. Two crazy years. She never thought she would have gone to Comic Con much less in cosplay. She went as Rose and Sheldon went as the Dr. from . They got third place in the group costume competition. They had gone on a cruise to Alaska together (after finding the safest and cleanest cruise line). She finally got him to get to the top of the rock wall. That and the sex. Sheldon took to sex like he took to Physics: with gusto and unyielding pursuit to be the best. He continually finds things that make Penny's toes curl and have her seeing stars.

After two years though, he still hadn't told her how he felt. After her constant declarations of love to him, he still didn't find it in him to let her know he reciprocated the same feelings. That was when the creeping feeling that he didn't feel the same way started to seep in. She started dropping hints and asking him in backhanded ways. Ways that most men would understand. Fortunately and unfortunately, Sheldon was not most men. It wasn't until she directly asked him did her fears reach actualization. Today she asked him straight up and point blank. He stared at her before getting up and leaving to his room. After the shock wore off, and the tears ebbed, she had gone to the gym and had been beating up on the punching bag since.

Sighing, Penny pulled back and stopped the bag from swinging back. She didn't want to think that Sheldon didn't love her but it seemed to be the case. He didn't feel the same way. She had to accept it and more on. She grabbed her bag and left the gym to head home. A night with two guys that never left or judged her seemed to be imminent: Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. She felt the tears once again prickling at her eyes but she knew they wouldn't be released till she was in the sanctity of her apartment. The apartment that she and Sheldon were working on moving her out of by the end of the month.

She pulled up to the apartment building and got out of her car. Walking up to the front doors, she noticed a balloon holding a cd. It was bright pink and matched the bright pink cd. She noticed that it was the same as the stack she kept at Sheldon's. She picked it up and saw binary on it. She didn't read binary but knew that it was important. Binary was a personal joke between them after she said that it never said anything important. Heading up the stairs, she saw more balloons with more things attached to them. One had a new "Kate and Leopold" DVD. Another had a new pair of red heels (Sheldon broke her last pair after they tried a funky new position. Why she had to wear heels, only Sheldon will ever know). She got to her door and there was a bouquet of pink roses. Penny didn't like the red ones cause they looked like so rigid and old. That and that was the only thing Leonard ever got for her. Cause they were "traditional." Penny didn't like to be classified as traditional and all that that pertained.

Opening her door, she swung down her bag before popping the CD into her player. Waiting for it to read the disc, she grabbed a bottle of water. She wasn't truly paying attention to the music as she chugged her water before the chorus hit her.

"I wanna, li-li-li-lick you from yo' head to yo' toes!" Penny spewed the water all over her kitchen island before running to change the song. It took her a minute to realize what it was a Beatles song.

"I want to hold your ha-and!" smiling, Penny flipped to the next song and skipped to the middle.

"Oh! I wanna dance with somebody! I wanna feel the heat with somebody!" giggling she danced along before moving on to the next song.

"Oo baby, here I am, signed, sealed delivered, I'm yours" sighing, she felt her anger melt away from her. She knew that Sheldon cared. He may never say the words but his actions were what truly mattered.

She headed to the door right when the rhythmic three knocks happened. She waited for the following three "Pennys?" and the following two knocks before opening the door. Sheldon was standing there with his unflappable expression. She let him and closed the door.

"Penny. I feel horrible that you may have misconstrued my leaving earlier. I had to gather my thoughts and when I came back you were gone. I have gathered them and have a response to your question." He looked at her and took a deep breath before continuing. "Penny. I don't believe what I feel for you is love."

Penny felt like she had been struck. There was the answer she didn't want to hear. She took a deep breath before responding. "I am glad that you realized this before we continued on like this" Sheldon interrupted her with a smile.

"Penny I am so glad you agree! I believe that while love may have been a basis for our relationship prior a year ago, it seems that we have ascended. We, like Physics, are creating entirely new possibilities. We have evolved from such a basic form of feeling to one that no longer has true measurement on normal scales. To put it plainly: I love you more than anything Penny." Sheldon pulled Penny in for a scorching kiss that made her mind race and her body melt against him.

Penny couldn't have been more happy. She responded with equal vigor to the kiss, pressing up towards him to get more of what he so willingly gave. He pulled away smiling before reaching into her pocket. He pulled out a little blue box that women know so well. Penny felt the tears come back to her eyes when she saw him drop to his knees.

"While I find this ritual to be dull and archaic, my research tells me that 8 out of 10 women find this to be the preferred position men get into when proposing. Maybe due to the fact that it allows the woman an illusion of power" he shrugged at the notion before grasping Penny's hand. "Penny, you're the most important person in my life. More than my Meemaw and my mother. I can't conceive the notion that you would no longer be in my life. I want us to age together until we hit the end of biological clock so to speak. I want us continue to aggravate one another knowing that the one will always forgive the other. Penny will you marry me?"

Penny smiled. The proposal was Sheldon. Awkward to a fault and straight to the point. "Yes!" she yelled and proceeded to pounce on him. He scooped her up and headed towards her bedroom. She pulled away from the languid kiss, "Sheldon! I must look disgusting in my sweaty shirt and greasy hair! I have to take a shower!" Sheldon laughed before kissing her on the nose. He walked into the room closing the door with his foot. Placing her on the bed, he leaned down towards her.

"Penny, you look beautiful whatever you are wearing and no matter if you have perspiration on you. Besides, taking a shower right now would be a little redundant. By the time we're done you're going to need one anyway."

**Review and let me know your thoughts. Much love readers. Much love.**


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